Not to say “we told ya so,” but…well…
In February of 2004, in the 15th article we ever posted to The BRAD BLOG, in a short piece headlined “Gay Marriage. Done Deal.” we wrote rather presciently (even if we say so ourselves) and seemingly against all odds at the time: “The wall seems to be finally coming down, and the GOP and DNC are as powerless to stop it as East German Chancellor Erich Honecker was to stop the Berlin Wall from toppling in ’89.”
While the institutional barriers erected against marriage equality didn’t fall quite as quickly as the Berlin Wall was finally toppled, today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling [PDF] in Obergefell v. Hodges, determining that marriage is a fundamental Constitutional right in all fifty states in the union, came faster than almost everyone had could have predicted, certainly 11 years ago.
In September of 2010, in the midst of some seemingly dark days for the nation, but even as the first of many federal court cases began to reveal the utter moral bankruptcy of the case against equal rights for all, we reminded readers once again that rights always win and haters always lose…eventually.
Here’s what we wrote at the time…
As horrible as things seem right now — with sociopathic loons on one side of the aisle, cowardly failures on the other, a mainstream corporate media completely out of touch with virtually everything that matters, an economy in which everyone but the rich are gasping for air — there is one very bright spot on which we can all take great comfort.
Rights win.
It rarely happens immediately, and almost never without a far-too-long struggle, but rights for we, the people, almost always eventually win in this nation — usually against all odds, avarice, greed and ignorance — but our Constitution is brilliant enough that rights eventually win out.
If you have any doubt, look no further than the latest news heralding the last dying gasps of institutionalized homophobia in our laws and in our military.
The good news is: the haters have lost. The question which played such an enormous — if entirely trumped up — role in our Presidential elections just 6 years ago has been all but finally settled.
Well before the end of this decade (and likely far sooner than that, perhaps even before the end of Obama’s first term in office), marriage equality for gays and lesbians will be recognized in every state in the union, and homosexuals will be as welcome in our nation’s military as African-Americans.
It’s over. The good guys have won. In these quiet victories of rights over wrongs, we can all take some quiet comfort, even in these maddening, ugly days…
The bad guys may not have come to terms with it yet, they may not have even noticed yet, but they have lost. The Constitutional right to “equal protection” under the law eventually wins. And there is nothing that all of the hateful politicians, brain-dead media and disinformed citizenry can do to change that.
In 2004, in one of our earliest postings, amidst all the phony sturm und drang about it, we told you that “gay marriage” was a “done deal”. And so it is, or will soon very much be.
As bad as everything seems right now — actually is right now — take heart. Rights will always win. Eventually. We shall overcome.
(And there’s nothing Fox “News”, evil Republicans, cowardly Democrats, deviously disinformed Americans or anybody else who hates the Constitution and American Values can do about it. So have a nice weekend.)
It didn’t happen “before the end of Obama’s first term in office,” as we had predicted might “perhaps” be the case. But, other than that. I think we were pretty close.
We’ve noted for many years how marriage equality was a conservative value, at least for real conservatives who actually say they believe in the U.S. Constitution.
Ronald Reagan-appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion, written on behalf of the Court’s 5-4 majority today, based his decision on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, which follows:
With that in mind, our prediction was always an easy one for real conservatives — like us — who believe in the Constitution.
Moral: Always trust The BRAD BLOG. Oh, and yes, have another nice weekend…
(More on all of this later today on The BradCast.)
David Brooks of all people agreed with you way back when: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/22/opinion/the-power-of-marriage.html.
I do always trust BRAD BLOG.
Cambridge’s annual dance party was quite the happening thing tonight. They close off several blocks around city hall, and it was wall-to-wall people in a celebratory mood. They were expecting over 20,000 people, and I bet they had at least that many. Not bad for a city with a population of 105,000, thousands of whom are college students who’ve already left for the summer. This is the same place we had the party for marriage equality so many years ago. Congratulations to the rest of the country for finally catching up with such a good thing!
Congratulations on your prescience (and brave optimism), Brad.
To all the soon-to-be-married couples: may you be happy together for the rest of your lives!